


Figments of Fear

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Druids (Voltron), Established Relationship, Galra Keith (Voltron), Graphic Description, Hallucinations, Hurt/Comfort, Langst, M/M, Psychological, post-season 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-12
Updated: 2017-09-12
Packaged: 2018-12-27 06:14:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12075177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Honestly, the red flags should have been pretty obvious the second they saw the source of the distress beacon. A hollowed-out husk of a destroyed ship with no power and no sign of any life. Debris and… parts orbited the big ship. The odds of anyone alive in there looked slim.Team Voltron responds to a distress beacon on a Galra destroyed ship and look for any signs of survivors. As they search however it becomes clear something isn’t quite right about the ship. By the time they figure it out it is already too late for Lance.(Reposted because something went screwy with the first upload)





	Figments of Fear

**Author's Note:**

> Reposted because Ao3 ate the word count.

Honestly, the red flags should have been pretty obvious the second they saw the source of the distress beacon. A hollowed-out husk of a destroyed ship with no power and no sign of any life. Debris and… _parts_ orbited the big ship. The odds of anyone alive in there looked slim.

                

“Are we sure this is the source of the beacon?” Keith questioned, arms crossed as yellow eyes studied the ship, searching for any indication of survivors.

 

“This is the only ship in range,” Allura said, looking dubious as well.

 

The rest the Voltron gang studied the ship in silence. It was no doubt the work of a Galra ship. The wake of destruction was familiar as they made their way through this quadrant.

 

“Life support is still on in the lower levels right? Someone might be alive in there,” Lance said. He glanced at Keith, their temporary leader. “If there is we can’t just leave them in there.”

 

“Agreed,” Hunk said. “There shouldn’t be any harm in checking it out right?”

 

“Our duty as paladins is to help those in need,” Keith said, nodding at Lance who smiled a bit at the acknowledgment. “Suit up. We’re going to stay together.”

 

“Coran and I will monitor things from the castle,” Shiro said, clapping a hand on Keith’s back. “Be careful.”

 

**\---**

 

“Oh my god. Nope. I take it back. No one is here. This place is creepy,” Lance whined, knees trembling as he clung to Hunk. It was pitch black on the ship, all power dead and unresponsive. Their footsteps echoed through the metal hallways and the ship would occasionally creak and groan as if it were giving its last shaky breaths. Life support was down in the upper levels they searched.

 

“Oh come on Lance it isn’t so bad,” Pidge said ahead of them, rolling her eyes as she slid her light along the walls, searching for any clues. “We’ve gone through worse.”

 

“Y-yeah. N-not so bad,” Hunk stuttered, clinging to Lance as much as he was he was.

 

“Hey!” Keith barked from the front of the group. “Stay focused! If you’re so scared call Coran and go back to the ship.”

 

“We are focused Grumpy Cat!” Lance snapped, looking at the buckled and caved metal walls and the dark circuits that would have normally run through them. How dare Keith imply he couldn’t handle a simple search and rescue mission? “And I’m not scared!”

 

He unwound himself from Hunk and marched forward, pass Pidge and Allura to walk right at Keith’s side. His blue eyes gave Keith a defiant glare through the visor of his helmet, daring him to challenge him.

 

“See?” He huffed, matching Keith’s stride.

 

“Yeah, I see you. Right where you belong,” Keith chuckled, and Lance was caught off guard by the fondness in his voice, even through the distortion of their helmets. Keith’s clawed hands came up to gently cuff Lance in the shoulder. Since Keith’s Galra genetics hit him like a runaway dump truck his playful hits were more like a swing with a hammer. That infamous Galra strength was no joke. So, it made something fluffy and giddy bubble in Lance’s stomach at how gentle his touch was. Any fear he might have had – _might_ – settled a bit, comforted in the fact that his newly Galra boyfriend and his team had his back.

 

“You guys are going to make me hurl,” Pidge gagged. “We can hear everything through our helmets you know.”

 

“Shut up you’re just jealous,” Lance said, turning to stick his tongue out at her and walking a little closer to Keith. Keith cleared his throat in embarrassment, clearly forgetting that they had an audience.

 

“If you guys are quite done… We’re approaching the source of the beacon,” Allura said, looking up from the blue holographic image on her wrist. Keith grunted as he grabbed the bowed out automatic door and shoved it out of the way, biceps flexing under his paladin armor. Lance could see where Keith’s fingers had indented in the edge of the metal.

 

“That was kind of hot,” Lance whispered, biting his lower lip.

 

“Going. To. Hurl.”

 

They stepped over the wreckage of the door into what was left of the bridge by the looks of it. The screens on the walls of the circular room were shattered to pieces with their wire innards exposed and the top of the main control console in the middle was wrecked.

 

“Stay close,” Keith reminded them, his night vision helping pick out what their lights weren’t focused on. His large ears flicked, hitting the inside of his helmet, trying to keep an ear out for any signs of life. All he could hear were the sounds of his teammates breathing and the beat of their hearts. To his sharp senses, every tinny groan from the ship was distracting.       

 

“Don’t you find it kind of odd that we haven’t seen a single body _inside_ the ship?” Hunk whispered, sweeping his light over the floors.

 

“Kinda morbid there, Hunk,” Lance said, checking the ceilings with his light. He frowned. Hunk had a point though. The only sign of any life at all was outside the ship in the void of space. And those definitely could not send a distress beacon.

 

“Maybe most of them evacuated in time?” Allura suggested, lifting a toppled chair that had once been bolted to the floor.

 

“I think it is safe to say there is nothing here,” Pidge said. “We should head back.”

 

“It doesn’t make sense,” Lance said, studying the broken console. “How can this ship still be transmitting a distress beacon from here anyway? Everything up here is dead.”

 

“Coran said it was still transmitting from here in particular.” Allura pulled up the map of the ship again, squinting her rainbow eyes at the holographic image. “But now it’s all over the place. Something in here is messing with the signal.”

 

“All the more reason to leave,” Hunk said firmly.

 

“We’ll check the lower part of the ship before leaving,” Keith said. “It’s the only part with life support still on. Just to be sure.”

 

Before they could head for the door they froze as a whine that wasn’t the deteriorating ship echoed around the room, sounding very alive and very distressed. A chill went down their backs like ice sliding down their spine.

 

“I hate that you made me watch Alien,” Hunk hissed at Lance, bayard at ready. “I’ve g-got so many b-bad images in my head right now.”

 

“Stay alert,” Keith growled, a bad feeling twisting in his stomach. “Be careful and don’t touch _anything_.”

 

They swung their lights around as Keith tried to get a read on where the sound came from. When the whimpering sound happened again it was Lance who got on his knees to shine his light under the control console.

 

“Holy quiznak,” he breathed, seeing the curled up little figure wedged under the space beneath the device. It looked like an alien, no bigger than a toddler, and completely black save for the faint glow of its… eyes? Lance wasn’t sure where it began and where it ended honestly, curled up as tight as it was. “I found them!” He exclaimed, glad they hadn’t just left, and wiggled onto his stomach until he could reach his arm under the console. “C’mere little guy…”

 

“Wait,” Keith started. “Lance be-“

 

Lance’s fingers barely brushed the small thing’s forehead and it gave a horrifying screech that made Lance’s ears ring. His eyes went wide as the purple eyes flared bright and blinding and cracks of light broke across the skin, like wood splintering. It exploded and sent Lance flying back with a startled yelp. He distantly heard Keith and Hunk shout his name. Allura screamed.

 

His helmet cracked on the wall – safety first – and he slid to the floor, landing on his butt. He groaned, head pounding as it rattled inside his helmet. It felt like someone had hit his brain with a mallet. Mostly centered between his eyes. Otherwise, he was fine.

 

“Well that was unexpected,” he winced, vision swimming as he stood. He tried to blink the darkness away from the edges of his eyes. “Sorry guys I didn-“

 

His voice caught in his throat, choking on his apology.

 

Allura hung on the back of a chair, her back broken over the edge, eyes glassy and mouth open wide in her last moments of surprise and shock. Her pink helmet was shattered, face clear as day and white hair spilling out from the top. Bile edged up Lance’s throat as he frantically looked around, light falling on the crumpled heap of yellow and green armor.

 

He couldn’t see their faces. Hunk was hunched over Pidge, his broad back pockmarked with shrapnel and holes. Pidge’s forearm stuck out from under him bent at a sickening angle. Blood seeped through the spaces of their suits, beading down the fractured white plating of their armor.

 

“No,” Lance cried, high and reedy. “Nononono.” He shined his light around, searching through the violet haze of the ship for any sign of Keith. He was afraid. Afraid of what he would see. His heart pounded as he couldn’t find any sign of him.

 

He did this. Lance the cargo pilot. Lance the screw-up. This was his fault. The explosion…

 

“Keith?!” He sobbed, looking for the other boy, taking a step forward. A deep growl, unfamiliar and bone chilling answered. He swung his searchlight but it seemed to have stopped working. Through the darkness, by the purple light, he saw piercing yellow glowing eyes, empty and pupiless. A Galra was still onboard. He could make out the hulking outline of the monster. It was nothing like any Galra he had seen. It was a misshapen mass of a creature right out Lance’s nightmares.

 

“Lance,” the dripping maw said, voice gurgling like it was underwater. Lance himself felt like he was drowning and he backed up, legs shaking.

 

“Please, no,” he shouted, scanning his fallen teammates with wide eyes. The beast lurched forward. Lance turned, bolting out the door.

 

Everything looked wrong. The hallway was too long and the floor was too narrow. The ceilings stretched too high above him but the walls were too close. Faint dark swirls tainted the air. Every time he blinked he could see the afterimage of that creature's round violet eyes, like the flash of a camera. 

 

“Keith!” He cried out, desperately looking for his beloved.

 

**\---**

 

“Lance!” Keith shouted, watching his teammate flee. He had never seen such open and abject terror on his face. Let alone directed at him. As though Keith was the most terrifying thing he had ever seen. The second he took a step towards him Lance took off.

 

After the otherwise harmless light from under the console had burst, the rest of the Voltron gang shielding their eyes, Lance had flown backward, hitting the wall with a yelp. Hunk had rushed toward his friend, shouting his name. Keith was ready to run to his side but was relieved when Lance got up on his own, shaking it off.

 

It was when Lance’s apology cut off and his eyes went wide, that panic and concern welled up in his chest again. Through his visor, Keith could that those blue eyes had an unnatural purple glow. _Druid magic_ , he realized. Tears had rolled down ruddy tan cheeks as he whimpered and cried, unable to see Hunk trying to comfort and check on him.

 

He heard Lance call out his name down the hall and he growled, ready to chase and calm his terrified mate.

 

“Keith!” Allura shouted, grabbing him by an arm, Altean strength halting him. “Something is clearly wrong. You can’t chase him down like that! He is seeing something we don’t. He’s terrified of you!”

 

“Someone has to go after him!” Keith roared, yellow eyes flashing and wrenching his arm from Allura’s grasp. “I’m not leaving him!”

 

He left the rest of the team, concern and fear carrying him after Lance.

 

  **\---**

 

Lance didn’t know where he was going. He just ran. He shouldered his way through doors. Anywhere was better than that horrible scene. At some point he must have lost the Galra monster that was on his heels and he slowed down. His breath was ragged and he felt like someone had punched him in the lungs. He frantically wrestled his helmet off his head, hoping it would make breathing easier.

 

Lance whimpered, looking around. His vision was still swimming, tilting this way and that like he had just stumbled off the tilt-a-whirl at the Venice Beach Boardwalk. His head felt like it was splitting right down the middle. The ever-present purple lighting around the ship helped him see and he headed for a door, desperate to get off. He wanted to go home.

 

What he didn’t expect was to actually be home. He blinked in shock as he realized he had swung open the front door to his house. Not the door to his room at the garrison. His actual house. Where he grew up. He was in the kitchen where his mom would cook _Moros y Cristianos_. The kitchen he and his cousins had helped strip the wallpaper from when he was a kid and paint it the warm amber it was now.

 

It was all so familiar. So exactly as he remembered. He could even see the singed part of the rug where he had accidentally knocked the Virgin Mary candle off the table when he was five.

 

“Wha-?” Lance sobbed in confusion. He was home. Somehow, he was home and he couldn’t be more relieved.

 

“ _Mamá_!” He shouted, looking around for her yellow apron and the curly mess of dark hair. “ _Mamá_!” Nothing. Lance looked back at the black burn in the red rug. Suddenly it couldn’t look more unfamiliar. It was bigger, black bleeding outwards slowly, engulfing the kitchen. The walls began to bruise and fade. The oven rusted red. Large chunks of the ceiling were gone, and a huge fissure split the kitchen in half.

 

Lance looked around, dust and ash flying around his head, a sheer wind blowing at his hair. He looked up at the gray sky and his eyes went wide.

 

_Galra._

 

Massive Galra ships in Earth’s atmosphere, their dark presence blocking out the sun. The ground was a dead lifeless gray, the ocean was a rotting pool of dead fish.

 

The Galra had found Earth. Zarkon had destroyed Earth. All because Lance couldn’t be a good paladin. All because Lance had cost his teammate their life. They couldn’t protect Earth. Lance should never have been a paladin. The lions chose wrong. Now there was no Voltron. No Earth. Nothing.

 

He cried out, turning and running for another door, hoping to go back to the kitchen. Or maybe Keith. Maybe Keith was on the other side of the door. He reached for the knob only to have the air punched out of him as something barreled into his side.

 

**\---**

 

Keith had stopped chasing after Lance, realizing that Allura was right and instead used his Galra abilities to his advantage. He didn’t need a light, just his eyes as he instead crept slowly after Lance, keeping an eye on the panicked boy. He followed Lance until he came to a stop down in the cargo hold and watched from a distance. Lance had ripped his helmet off his head and Keith’s heart almost stopped until he realized that the life support was still on down here.

 

He wasn’t sure what he should do. Lance clearly didn’t see the Keith he knew when he looked at him. He wanted nothing more than to run over and wrap Lance’s willowy body in his arms till his trembling stopped.

 

As he mulled over what his next course of action was, as a leader and as Lance’s mate, he snapped up from his position in the shadows. Lance was panicking again. He was shouting for his mom, and Keith’s chest ached at the shaky hope in his voice.

 

Then Lance was running again. When Keith saw where he was going, he leapt up, heart rate rocketing up as he bolted after Lance. Lance’s hand was on the airlock hatch, the void of space on the other side, just as Keith launched himself at him, throwing them both to the floor.

 

“No!” Lance hollered, writhing and bucking wildly. Keith grunted as an elbow connected in the space between the plating of his armor. “No! No! Please don’t!” His purple tinged eyes were wide in panic, staring at Keith. “I hate this! I don’t want this!”

 

“Lance! Lance, it’s me! It’s Keith!” Keith said, yanking his helmet off and tossing it aside before grabbing Lance by his thin wrists and pressing them into the floor.

 

“No, no, no!” He snarled, eyes closed and weakly kicking his legs. “Give them back! Give back my friends! Give back my planet! My family!”

 

Keith’s heart felt like it would break at his words and he pressed his chest against Lance’s, hearing the rabbiting pace of his heart through their armor. He pressed his forehead against Lance’s own, ignoring the terrified whimper.

 

“Lance, Lance,” he crooned desperately, soft and gentle. “It’s Keith. You’re ok. Your friends are fine. I’m ok. I’m right here.”

 

Keith didn’t know what else to do. He didn’t know what Lance was seeing but he could guess that it wasn’t pretty. He held Lance down and whispered softly to him, repeating the assurances. _You’re ok. Your friends are fine. I’m right here._

 

Lance whined, eyes screwed shut so he didn’t have to look at the creature above him. He wasn’t sure how he got back on the ship but he could feel the cold press of the metal floor against his bare cheek.

 

“I’m right here,” Keith said again, and Lance’s breath hitched as he recognized the voice, as if it were far away or his ears were plugged.

 

“K-Keith?” He said, questioningly hopeful. Was it really Keith? Did he find him?

 

“Yes!” Keith said, smiling even though Lance couldn’t see it. “It’s me. It’s Keith. I’m right here.”

 

“O-oh my god, Keith,” Lance hiccupped in relief and opened his eyes only to give a pained warble and squeeze them shut again.

 

His amethyst skin was a charred ugly bruise color, one eye an empty black socket and the other a blank dead yellow. Keith was hurt. Keith was injured and it was all Lance’s fault! All hi-

 

“No, no, Lance!” Keith whispered harshly, draping his body over Lance’s as he rambled aloud. “It isn’t your fault. Nothing is your fault.” It didn’t have the desired effect with the armor in the way so he pressed close, nuzzling his face into Lance’s neck the way he usually liked it and feathered kisses on his frantic pulse. He let go of a limp hand and instead carded his claws through the short brown strands, gently stroking his head.

 

Things swam across Lance’s eyelids, barely there amoeba looking things under a microscope. The eyes in his head wouldn’t leave him alone. He felt the weight of a body – Keith’s body, he reminded himself – and the fingers in his hair. Keith’s warm breath fanned across the bare parts of his neck and he sighed tilting his head into the fluff of his hair.

 

“You’re ok?” He asked quietly. “You’re not hurt?”

 

“I’m ok,” Keith confirmed.

 

“Hunk? Pidge? Allura?”

 

“They’re ok too. Hunk looked like he was going to cry though when you started freaking out.”

 

Lance gave a thin gasping laugh, relaxing and going limp under Keith, his eyes firmly closed. He didn’t want to open them, knowing that the nightmarish images would be there when he opened them.

 

“I keep seeing things,” he whispered. “I thought I had killed you guys. I thought I doomed the universe. I thought Earth was dead because I fucked it up.”

 

“Druid magic,” Keith said simply, letting go of Lance’s wrist and instead threading their fingers together. “A trap intended for us probably. They’re just illusions. It isn’t real.”

 

“It feels so real…” Lance snuffled. “What if- What if I do mess it up for everyone? I’m just that extra paladin that can’t do-“

 

“Shut up for a second, ok?” Keith interrupted, easing them up, palm cradling Lance’s head. “I told you who you can leave that math to. You’re our sharpshooter. My second-in-command. You keep me levelheaded and grounded. I wouldn’t be half the leader this team needs without you. You’re an important member of team Voltron. Never forget that.”

 

Lance flopped against Keith’s chest, smiling a bit at the soothing purr Keith had going. Galra were just giant kitties.

 

“Are you good?” Keith asked.

 

“Honestly? No,” Lance sighed. Even though he was calmer and he knew that Keith was ok – he was right by his side holding him tight – he could feel the druids’ corruption in his head still. He knew that if he opened his eyes he would be assaulted by the horrifying images. He felt like he was sinking in a deep pool of, barely keeping his head above it. The only thing that kept him afloat was Keith, holding onto him and giving him the strength to not fall back down into the purple void.

 

“The illusions are still there.” He clung tighter to Keith, focused on his touch to keep the panic and illusions at bay. Keith made it easier to resist. To remind himself that it wasn’t real. “But I can fight them. Can't keep Lancey-Lance down.”

 

“Let’s get you back to the ship,” Keith murmured, scooping Lance up in his arms. “I’m sure Coran can figure out how to fix it.”

 

Lance nodded, reaching blindly till he could wind his arms around Keith’s neck.

 

“Hey, Lance?” Keith said, bending down to pick up their helmets and holding Lance up with one arm.

 

“Yeah?” Lance asked, nuzzling at Keith’s neck, feeling like he could nap forever.

 

“For the record, the fact that I’m cradling you in your arms is _not_ an illusion.”

 

Lance gave a startled chuckle. “I’ll try and remember that.”

 

“You better.”

 

The fears were real. The burden he and the rest of the team carried were real. They haunted him constantly. Hallucinogenic druid magic or not. But in the arms of his fearless and reckless leader, he felt protected and safe. It was comforting to know that whenever he had to face his fears – his anxieties – at least Keith would be right there at his side.

**Author's Note:**

> Did you guys know that I can channel spirits and become a totally different writer?! 
> 
> For real though why do I completely change style when I’m being mean to the characters I love? I actually prefer this writing style but hell if I can be consistent. So, enjoy my coffee and chicken biscuit fueled one shot where I give Lance a hard time and indulge my love for fluffy Galra Keith ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ (I considered “Author is a Dick to Lance” as a tag).
> 
> Questions? Comments? Critiques? Like anything in particular? Let me know what you think!


End file.
